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GAME INFORMATION
Game #3: Cornell at Colgate
Tip off: Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 7:00 p.m.
Site: Cotterell Court (1,750), Ithaca, N.Y.
2014-15 Records: Cornell (0-2, 0-0 Ivy); Colgate (0-1, 0-0 Patriot League)
Series Record: Cornell leads, 19-15
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 76-62, on Nov. 8, 2013 (Ithaca, N.Y.)

THE MATCHUP: After dropping a pair of tightly contested games last weekend, the Big Red women's basketball team is seeking its first win of the season as it travels to in-state rival Colgate on Wednesday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. Colgate will be the Raiders second Ivy League for in a row, as Colgate fell to Harvard, 68-53, in its season opener on Nov. 15.
 
THE SERIES VS. COLGATE: Standing at 34 meetings all-time, Cornell's series with the Raiders is the longest in women's basketball history, excluding Ivy League games. The Big Red has won seven of the last eight games against the Raiders to take the slim lead in the all-time series, 19-15. The series began during the 1978-79 season, a 65-60 overtime victory for the Big Red, but Colgate won 10 of the first 14 meetings overall before Cornell won five straight from 1992-93 to 1996-97. Since the 1992-93 season, the Big Red has gone 15-5 against Colgate and head coach Dayna Smith is 7-3 all-time against the Raiders.
 
SCOUTING THE RAIDERS (portions courtesy www.PatriotLeague.org): The Raiders, tabbed for eighth in the Patriot League preseason poll, returns three of the its top four scorers from a year ago, including senior forward Carole Harris who finished third in the Patriot League in rebounding at 7.9 per contest and was 14th in scoring at 12.1 per game. Senior guard Mariah Jones started all 30 games for Colgate and finished second on the team in scoring at 10.7 ppg., while eclipsing the 20-point plateau on four occasions. Also back are senior guard Missy Repoli, who knocked down 40-percent of her three-point field goal attempts a year ago and finished fourth on the team in scoring at 7.8 ppg. In the front court Kelly Reid, a 5-11 junior, returns to team with Harris after starting 24 games as a sophomore … Colgate dropped its season opener on Nov. 15 with a 68-53 decision to Harvard. Harris led all scorers with 19 points and nine rebounds and the Raiders picked up 13 points from Josie Stockhill but Harvard shot 43.6 percent from the floor and was 8-of-21 from 3-point range to get out to a 33-26 lead at halftime. The Crimson also held the significant advantage on the boards, 42-31, helping the home team to 15 second-chance points.
 
LAST TIME VS. COLGATE: The Big Red started the 2013-14 season with a dominating 76-62 victory over in-state rival Colgate on Nov. 8, 2013 in Newman Arena. It was Cornell's third consecutive win over the Raiders, including back-to-back season openers, as the Big Red moved to 1-0 on the year. Senior Allyson DiMagno led the team with 20 points, nine rebounds and five assists. With her nine rebounds, she became just the fourth player in Cornell history to reach the 700-rebound plateau. Classmate Shelby Lyman finished with 16 points as the only other Cornell player in double-figures, while Aspen Chandler tallied eight points. Four freshmen saw action during the game with Kerri Moran and Megan LeDuc each chipping in eight points, while Nicholle Aston and Nia Marshall had six and four points, respectively. Moran also grabbed six rebounds, while Marshall was huge on the defensive end with five blocked shots and five steals. The five blocked shots were the most by a Big Red player in 10 seasons and ranked third all-time in Cornell history for blocks in a single game. Colgate was led by Paige Kriftcher (13 points) and Lauryn Kobiela (12 points). Kelly Reid tied DiMagno for a game-high with nine rebounds, while Carole Harris added seven boards. The Big Red connected on 45.6 percent of its shots from the floor, including a blistering mark of 53.1 percent (17-of-32) during the first half, while holding Colgate to 33.3 percent overall. The Raiders did connect on 47.4 percent from behind the arc, thanks in large part to a 5-of-8 performance in the second half, which helped to close the gap of what had been a 20-point Cornell lead at the intermission. Colgate held the slim edge in rebounds (41-39). Both teams had 17 turnovers but Cornell registered 14 steals to the Raiders' eight.
 
CORNELL VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE: Cornell is 41-56 all-time vs. the current members of the Patriot League. The Big Red owns the advantage in the series with Lafayette (8-7) and Colgate (19-15) but holds a losing mark against American (1-2), Army (5-6), Bucknell (5-18), Lehigh (2-4), Loyola (Md.) (1-2) and Navy (0-2). Boston University and Holy Cross are the only members of the Patriot League that Cornell has never faced in women's basketball ... Coach Smith's record vs. the conference stands at 16-15 after going 2-1 against the Patriot League last season with wins vs. Colgate and Loyola.
 
A CORNELL WIN WOULD:
• be the first of the season for the Big Red.
• snap a four-game losing streak dating back to last season.
• improve the Big Red to 20-15 in the all-time series with Colgate.
• be the fourth in a row over the Raiders.
• give Cornell its eighth win in nine tries against Colgate.
• improve head coach Dayna Smith to 8-3 against the Raiders
• make Coach Smith 17-15 all-time vs. the Patriot League.
 
SMARTY PANTS: Cornell led all Ivy League teams and ranked 20th nationally when the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced its Academic Top 25 for the 2013-14 season. Head coach Dayna Smith's team posted a cumulative grade point average of 3.420 in 2013-14. Cornell was one of three Ivy League schools in the rankings, joining Yale (23rd, 3.397) and Brown (24th, 3.394). The University of Missouri-Kansas City led the way with a 3.628 grade point average.
 
STARTING STREAK: With the graduation of Allyson DiMagno, sophomore Nia Marshall has the longest starting streak on the team, standing at just four games. Both Marshall and Kerri Moran started every game in 2013-14, with the exception of the Big Red's Senior Day on March 1.
 
NEW STARTERS: In each of the first two games this season, the Big Red has started four players – Megan LeDuc, Christine Kline, Maddie Campbell and Nicholle Aston – that had yet to start a game for Cornell previously.
 
BIG MINUTES: Not only have Nicholle Aston, Christine Kline and Megan LeDuc earned the first starts of their collegiate careers this season, but the trio has each tripled their playing time from a season ago. Kline has seen the greatest increase, going from 7.4 to 38.0 minutes per game, while Aston has gone from 11.3 to 34.0 minutes per game, and LeDuc has gone from 11.5 to 33.0 minutes per game.  
 
ON THE SMALL SIDE: Cornell's roster of 14 players is one of the smallest in the Ivy League, with only Dartmouth and Yale featuring fewer players at 13 apiece.
 
ON THE YOUNG SIDE: Of Cornell's 14 players, 11 are underclassmen with just two seniors and one junior. No other team in the Ivy League has fewer upperclassmen, with the next youngest group being Yale with one senior and four juniors. Only one other team in the Ancient Eight has 11 underclassmen, as Columbia is identical to the Big Red with five sophomores and six freshmen, but the Lions also feature the largest roster in the conference at 17 players, with four seniors and two juniors to balance the team out.
 
LOW PERCENTAGE SHOTS: Since the beginning of the 2012-13 season, Cornell held 30 of its 58 opponents (52 percent) to below 40 percent shooting from the floor, including both opponents so far this season.
 
MAY I ASSIST YOU?: So far this season, Cornell has assisted on 29-of-38 baskets (76.3).
 
IVY LEADERS: Several Big Red players are ranked among the Ivy League leaders this season, including:
*Nia Marshall – ninth in scoring (13.5 points per game)
*Nicholle Aston – 16^th in scoring (9.5 points per game)
*Nicholle Aston – third in rebounding (9.0 rebounds per game)
*Nia Marshall – sixth in rebounding (8.0 rebounds per game)
*Nicholle Aston – ninth in field goal percentage (.533)
*Megan LeDuc – first in assists per game (6.0)
*Kerri Moran – sixth in assists per game (3.5)
*Nia Marshall – third in steals (2.0 steals per game)
*Christine Kline – seventh in steals (1.5 steals per game)
*Kerri Moran – ninth in 3-point field goal percentage (.500)
*Nia Marshall – fifth in blocked shots (1.0 blocks per game)
*Megan LeDuc – second in assist/turnover ratio (12.0)
*Kerri Moran – seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.4)
*Nicholle Aston – third in offensive rebounds (3.5 per game)
*Nia Marshall – fourth in defensive rebounds (6.5 per game)
*Nicholle Aston – seventh in defensive rebounds (5.5 per game)
*Christine Kline – second in minutes played (37.5 per game)
*Nia Marshall – fourth in minutes played (35.0 per game)
*Megan LeDuc – fifth in minutes played (34.5 per game)
*Nicholle Aston – eighth in minutes played (33.5 per game)
 
CLOSE CALLS: Since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, the Big Red has had 40-of-113 games (36 percent) decided by eight points or fewer. In those games, Cornell has posted a 20-21 record (.497).
 
FIRST MINUTES: So far this season, just one freshman – Christine Ehland – has seen playing time, as she played six minutes vs. Hartford  and scored two points.
 
I'LL TAKE THAT:
• So far this season, the Big Red is averaging 7.0 steals per game.
• In 2013-14, Cornell posted 253 steals (9.0 per game).
• A year ago, the Big Red finished the season ranked first in the Ivy League and 69th in the nation for steals per game.
• Last season, Cornell ranked second in the Ivy League and 69th in the nation in turnover margin (+2.29). 
 
FOR OPENERS: The Big Red is 19-25 all-time in season openers after its 48-46 heartbreaking loss to Hartford on Nov. 14. Coach Dayna Smith is now 3-10 in season openers.
 
RULE FOLLOWERS: Last season, the Big Red ranked second in the Ivy League and 20th in the nation in fouls per game (15.8).
 
FRESHMAN [FOUR]CE: With two starters and two others contributing significant minutes, four members of last season's freshman class – Kerri Moran, Nia Marshall, Nicholle Aston and Megan LeDuc – put their stamp on the 2013-14 season. All four averaged more than 11 minutes per game and as a group, they shot 42 percent (253-of-605) from the floor. The quartet also contributing an average of 24.1 points, 12.1 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 3.6 steals and 1.6 blocks per game.
 
100 THREES: The Big Red has amassed at least 100 3-pointers in each of the last seven seasons … Cornell has registered at least 100 3-pointers in all but one season under head coach Dayna Smith, with the 2006-07 squad coming up just short with 98 treys.
 
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK NOTES
• In total, Nia Marshall was named Rookie of the Week  five times last season (Dec. 2, Dec. 9, Jan. 13, Feb. 3, Feb. 10) becoming the first Big Red player to earn five Rookie of the Week selections since Jeomi Maduka was chosen seven times during the 2005-06 season.
• Nia Marshall was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Dec. 2 and Dec. 9, becoming the first Cornell women's basketball player to receive back-to-back Rookie of the Weeks awards since Jeomi Maduka in 2005-06.
• Nia Marshall was the first Cornell player to receive two Rookie of the Week awards in a single season since Lauren Benson in 2006-07.
 
WINNING NON-CONFERENCE SLATE: The Big Red finished the non-conference portion of its 2013-14 season with an 8-6 record for the second straight year, giving Cornell a winning non-conference record in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1999-2000/2000-01. It is just the third time in program history that the Big Red has had back-to-back winning non-conference records (1982-83/1983-84).
 
100 WINS AND COUNTING: Head Coach Dayna Smith is already the winningest coach in Cornell history, and she reached the 100-win mark for her career with the team's victory over Manhattan on Nov. 20, 2012. She has since added to that and has 124 career coaching wins.
 
HI, MY NAME IS: Cornell has a pair of new faces on the bench for the 2014-15 season – assistant coaches Todd Goclowski and Brendan Burke. A coach with 15 years of experience, Goclowski came to East Hill after eight highly successful years Lebanon Valley College, where he was the winningest coach in the history of the program. Burke came to Cornell after three seasons at Boston University, where he served as the Director of Basketball Operations for two seasons.
 
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: The Big Red adds six players to the 2014-15 squad – Janée Dennis (Burlington, N.J.), Christine Ehland (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Jamie Hill (Montville, Conn.), Marisa Knox (Memphis, Tenn.), Janelle Odionu (Newmarket, Ala.) and Paige Samuelson (Rock Hill, S.C.). The class comes from six different states and consists of three forwards and three guards.
 
WHAT WAS LOST: The Big Red graduated five players from the 2013-14 squad – Aspen Chandler, Joelle Davidson, Allyson DiMagno, Stephanie Long, and Shelby Lyman – and lost one other non-letter winners. The six players accounted for an average of 37.7 points and 19.0 rebounds per game.

WHAT REMAINS: Cornell returns two starters and six letter winners from last season's squad. The Big Red returns 42% of its scoring (751-of-1,768 points) and 49% of its rebounding (488-of-988) from a year ago.
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red wraps up a three-game road trip when it travels to Fairfield on Monday, Nov. 24 to take on the Stags at Alumni Hall at 7 p.m.